Never Let Go
by cj10824
Summary: Gabriella and Troy have been best friends since they were kids. Gabriella has deeper feelings than friendship for Troy. What happens when Gabriella accidentally hears a conversation she wasn't supposed to? Troy/Gabriella one-shot


Gabriella Montez woke up on Saturday morning, nervously excited for what was going to happen that day

Gabriella Montez woke up on Saturday morning, nervously excited for what was going to happen that day. She walked into her bathroom, and after showering and getting dressed, she rushed down the stairs to eat breakfast with her family.

"Morning Mom," she said as she kissed her mother on the cheek, before grabbing a plate and filling it with some French toast and eggs.

"Hi Dad," Gabriella greeted as she kissed him on the cheek before heading towards the kitchen table.

"Morning Gabi," Gabriella's seven year old brother said as she sat down at the table next to him.

"Hey Mikey," she said, ruffling his hair, before pouring syrup on her French toast and beginning to eat her breakfast.

"So sweetie, what are your plans today?" Carlos Montez asked his daughter.

"Not sure. I'll probably hang out with Troy…do some homework."

Gabriella smiled as she thought of her best friend. The two had known each other since elementary school. They were on the same little league baseball team that their dads coached. The two had been near inseparable since the first day of practice. Troy and Gabriella were practicing throwing and catching the baseball when Troy got distracted by the ice cream truck and got hit in the eye with the baseball. Gabriella rushed him over to the ice cream truck that day, demanding a bag of ice, much to the ice cream man's protests. That day, Gabriella sat on the bleachers with Troy holding the ice pack over his eye for him. After that, the two never left each other's side.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of her cell phone ringing. After looking at the caller ID, a grin erupted on her face before she excused herself from the table.

"Hi Troy," she greeted as she walked into the family room.

"Morning Brie," his sweet voice filled her ears causing her to smile even more.

"What's up?"

"Nothing really. I was wondering what we were gonna do today," Troy responded.

"Well, I'm just finishing up breakfast. You want to come over here and we can hang out, maybe watch a movie?"

"Sounds great. I'll be over in a few minutes. Bye."

"Bye Troy," she said as she flipped her phone closed, and walked back towards the kitchen table. She took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves that were re-surfacing after her conversation.

Today was the day that Gabriella was going to tell Troy about her feelings for him. She had developed a crush on him sometime between 8th and 9th grade. She couldn't pinpoint the exact time, but she knew her feelings now were stronger than any simple crush. After some encouragement from her friend Sharpay, one of the only people to know of her feelings besides her other friend Taylor, Gabriella had decided to come out with her feelings.

She was pulled out of her thoughts once again by the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it!" Mikey yelled as he sprung out of his seat, running towards the front door.

"Troy!"

"Hey Mikey!" Troy greeted as he ruffled his hair.

Gabriella turned her head at the sound of footsteps entering the kitchen. She grinned seeing her best friend walking towards her, with Mikey hanging off his back.

"Morning everyone," Troy greeted as he brought Mikey over to his chair, before pulling up a chair next to Gabriella.

"Hey Brie," he said while he picked up a fork and took a bite of her French toast.

"Hey!" Gabriella whined as she smacked his arm.

Troy turned towards her with a cheeky grin as he chewed the French toast. "Thanks Brie. You're so giving."

"Shut up," she smirked as she pushed back her chair. "Wanna go upstairs?"

"Sure."

The two stood up and rushed upstairs to Gabriella's room. Upon entering the room, Gabriella walked over to her computer, opened her itunes, and turned on some music.

"So what do you want to do?" Gabriella asked.

Troy smiled as she had her back to him. He snuck up behind her and grabbed her sides, tickling her and causing her to shriek.

"Maybe this," he said as he picked her up and threw her onto her bed before tickling her more.

After her face had turned bright red and she was shaking from her fits of laughter, Troy let up and grabbed her hands, lifting her up into a sitting position.

"Thanks Troy. If I get the hiccups, I'm gonna kick you," she threatened.

"Ooo...I'm scared," he instigated.

"Shut up," she muttered. Deciding it was now or never, she began as the sounds of Coldplay filled their ears.

"Hey Troy, can we talk? I mean, seriously talk," she added as he got a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah. Is everything okay?" He asked as he placed his hand on top of hers.

Gabriella smiled at how caring he was. "Yeah, everything is great. I just…I have something I need to tell you."

"Sure. Go for it."

"Okay...umm…see the thing is…is that," Gabriella struggled finding the words she had rehearsed so often the past few weeks.

"Uhh!" she yelled out in frustration causing Troy to raise his eyebrows.

"Brie, it's me. We tell each other everything. Come on…tell me," Troy encouraged.

"Okay, you're right. Here's the thing Troy…ever since junior high, I've felt-," she stopped as Troy's phone began to ring.

"Sorry," he apologized. "It's Chad."

Gabriella groaned, but nodded her head. He smiled and flipped open his phone.

"Hey Chad. What's up?"

"Dude, my parents just got a new couch. They're at the store getting it right now, and they want me to move the other one down to the basement. Can you help?"

"Sure, no problem. I'll bring Brie with me. We'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thanks man. See ya in a bit."

"So, Mr. Bolton. What is it that you have volunteered me for with out my permission?" Gabriella asked cheekily.

"Chad needs help moving a couch. Can we pick this up later?" He asked as he looked her in the eye.

Gabriella felt herself melting as she stared into his deep blue eyes.

"Sure thing," she muttered, wondering if she'd ever build up the courage she needed again.

Troy smiled and pulled her up, before placing his arm around her shoulders as she placed hers around his waist. They headed downstairs and jumped in Troy's car.

--

"Hey everyone," Gabriella and Troy greeted as they walked into Chad's house seeing Chad, Taylor, Sharpay, and Zeke sitting in the family room.

The boys all got right to moving the couch, while the girls went towards the kitchen.

"So Gabi, did you tell him?" Sharpay asked excitedly.

"No, I was about to when Chad called."

"That boy has the worst timing," Taylor admitted, talking about her boyfriend.

"Gabi, you have to try again. Are you?" Sharpay asked.

"I don't know…I really don't want to be rejected."

"So, you're content with being in love with your best friend, but never saying anything?" Taylor asked.

"Well…yeah. He and I have been inseparable since I was five and he was six. I don't think I could deal with the possibility of us being apart."

"Gabi, I've known Troy for awhile too. And trust me, he likes you; he may not admit it, but I know he does. I see the way he looks at you. And, for him being the star of the basketball team…the most wanted senior at East High…he hasn't taken any offers from the many girls who have looked his way. But, if you don't say something soon, he may eventually take one of those offers."

"Guys, I can't do it," Gabriella said. "I already tried once today."

"Well then, you want me to talk to him?" Sharpay asked. Gabriella nodded her head, as the boys all walked into the kitchen.

"Break time!" Chad yelled, as he pulled some sodas out of the fridge and passed them around.

"Anyone up for some Guitar Hero?" Chad asked, as the group nodded and headed towards the family room.

As Gabriella and Chad were battling it out, Sharpay got up from her place beside Zeke and walked over to Troy.

"Hey Troy, can we talk?"

"Sure."

"Okay, let's go outside." Sharpay said as she led him out to sit on the front porch.

Sharpay and Troy had been close since elementary school. Her and Zeke were seniors along with Troy, while Chad, Taylor, and Gabriella were all juniors. Besides Gabriella, Sharpay was the one girl Troy felt that he could talk to.

"What's up?" Troy asked as they took a seat on the ledge.

"I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Shoot."

"About Gabi…," Sharpay continued. Troy looked at her skeptically, but nodded.

"Troy, what do you think of Gabi?"

"Um, she's my best friend. She's smart, funny, talented, kind," Troy began listing characteristics.

"Come on Troy. Go a little deeper," Sharpay pushed.

"Deeper? What do you mean?"

"I mean, Troy…what do you think of her, as a _single_ girl? Do you _like_ her?"

"Oh," Troy said as he realized what this was all about. "Brie is a great girl. Sure…she's cute, beautiful, smart, loving…I mean everything a guy would want in a girlfriend."

--

Gabriella and Chad had finished their game, and Zeke was now playing Chad.

"Where'd Troy go?" Gabriella asked Taylor.

"He and Sharpay went to talk."

"Talk!? As in, about me? Right now?" Gabriella asked nervously as Taylor nodded. "Oh, crap," Gabriella muttered as she walked towards the front door. She stopped and leaned up against the door, hearing them talk. She knew that she shouldn't eavesdrop, but she couldn't help in this situation.

"So, the question is…is she everything you want in a girlfriend?" Sharpay pursued further. "Do you love her?"

Gabriella's breath caught in her throat as she realized that this was it—the moment that could provide her with everything she had wanted.

"Yeah, I love Brie, definitely. We've been best friends forever…of course I love her."

"Troy! I'm not asking if you love her as a best friend. I'm asking if you _love_ her…like are you attracted to her…do you think about her…would you like to be in a relationship with her?"

"Me love Brie? Sharpay, are you insane asking all these questions? Of course not. She's a year younger than me; it wouldn't work," Troy responded, trying to look convincing while his face told Sharpay otherwise.

Gabriella felt a tear stream down her face as her whole world seemed to come crashing down. Even though she couldn't see Troy's face, she heard what he said, and he had convinced her. She quickly wiped her tears away and realized she had to get out of there.

As she ran to the kitchen, to head out the back door, she bumped into Chad.

"Whoa, Gabs. Where are you running off to?"

"Sorry Chad," she said as she became interested in the tile pattern on the kitchen floor. "I promised I'd help my mom with something. Bye."

Gabriella ran out the back door before Chad could say anything further, but not before he saw her red, puffy eyes.

--

"Troy, you do know I don't believe a word of that," Sharpay argued.

"Sharpay, what brought this all on? Why are you suddenly bombarding me with all these questions about Brie?"

"Uh…you really are dumber than I thought."

Troy raised his eyebrows at Sharpay, becoming slightly offended.

"Troy…Gabi loves you…in a different way than you love her apparently. She has for awhile now. I keep encouraging her to say something to you, but she won't. She was going to tell you today, before the dork with the afro called and interrupted. Now, she has talked herself out of it. So, I told her I would talk to you."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off, and everything made sense to Troy. He remembered all of the looks…the times when Gabriella seemed extremely nervous around him, like when they were at the beach, or at a dance. He recalled her nervousness earlier that day, and understood why she was tripping over her words.

"Oh, crap," Troy muttered under his breath.

"And what did you mean earlier, when you said she was younger and it wouldn't work?" Sharpay asked.

"I don't know. Look, she's younger…and that's fine for us being friends. But, next year…I'm off to college. She's still going to be in high school. People change a lot between high school and college. I don't want her to be held back by me. We both may change a little bit, and I don't want either of us to be hurt."

"Troy, you're an idiot." Sharpay mumbled.

"Thanks Shar. You know…you should become a therapist. I feel so much better."

"Listen Troy, I see the way you look at Gabi. Aside from Gabi, I'm the closest girl to you. I know you feel something deeper for her. You two are constantly flirting, and you click so well together. Are you going to sit here and continue to lie to me and to yourself?"

Everything was quiet for a few minutes, as Sharpay stared at Troy who was playing with his shoelace.

"Alright, I admit it. I like Gabi. I may even love Gabi…in a deeper way than a brother-sister love."

"Finally!" Sharpay squealed as she got up and wrapped Troy in a tight hug.

"Shar…I need oxygen," Troy choked out.

"Sorry," Sharpay admitted as she released him. "So, when are you going to tell her?"

Troy shrugged as the front door opened, and both turned their attention towards Chad as he walked onto the porch.

"Hey, you two know what happened with Gabs? She took off…she said she had something to do for her mom, but she looked like she was crying."

Troy looked worriedly at Sharpay, who returned a similar look of worry.

"No, we've been out here the whole time. Wasn't she playing Guitar Hero with you?" Sharpay asked.

"She was…but then she walked out towards the front door. I thought she was coming out here to hang out with you guys."

Troy's face paled as he realized Gabriella probably heard at least part of their conversation.

"Crap!" Troy yelled. "Guys, I gotta go find her right now. I'll see you later." Troy said as he leapt off the front porch over the few steps and ran down towards his car.

Troy shook his head, cursing himself as he speedily drove towards Gabriella's house. He quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. After getting her voicemail multiple times, he decided to text message her.

--

Gabriella ran into her house, and went straight up into her room, before collapsing on her bed in fits of sobs. She curled up into a ball on her bed, holding tight to a stuffed teddy bear Troy had given her on her tenth birthday.

"Gabi?"

Gabriella turned her head, and frantically wiped away her tears as her little brother entered her room.

"Hi Mikey."

"What's wrong Gabi?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I just want to be alone though, if that's okay."

"Sure Gabi. I'll be in my room if you need me. Mom and Dad said they were going to the store."

Mikey reached out and wrapped his sister in a hug, climbing into her lap and placing his head on her shoulder.

"Thanks Mikey. I'll be out in a few, and we'll watch a movie, okay?"

"Okay. Feel better Gabi," he said as he climbed down and walked out of the room, gently shutting her door.

Gabriella's phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket to see Troy was calling.

"Uh…not now Troy. How much more do you want to break my heart?" Gabriella asked aloud, as she ignored his calls, tossing her phone to the end of her bed.

A few seconds later, her phone beeped indicating she had a text message. Even though she thought it was a bad idea, she flipped open her phone.

_Brie, I'm sorry. I really need 2 talk 2 u. Please. _

Gabriella sighed as she flipped her phone shut, and curled back up on her bed as more tears streamed down her face.

--

Troy pulled into Gabriella's driveway a few seconds later. He noticed her parents' car was gone, but he hoped that at least someone was there to let him in. He sprinted towards the front door, and rang the doorbell, before impatiently knocking on the door as well.

The door opened to reveal Mikey standing there.

"Hey Troy."

"Mikey. Hi. Gabi's here right?" Troy asked desperately.

"Yeah, she's in her room. What's wrong? She's crying really bad."

"Dang, I really screwed this up. Listen Mikey, go ahead and play in your room, alright? Don't worry about Gabi. I'll talk to her."

Mikey nodded and ran up to his room as Troy shut the door, and began the trek upstairs. He paused outside her room as he heard sniffling inside. He gently cracked the door, thankful it didn't squeak, as he peered into the room. His heart broke as he saw his best friend curled up, hugging her bear tightly, as her body convulsed with each sob.

Troy pushed the door open all the way, stepped inside the room, and gently shut the door again.

"Brie?" Troy asked softly.

Gabriella's cries continued as she desperately tried to get herself under control.

"Please…leave me alone Troy," Gabriella managed to choke the words out as she buried her face into her pillow.

"Brie, listen. I need to talk to you. We have to clear some things up."

Gabriella sat up, and furiously wiped her tears away. Troy's heart broke even more at the sight of how torn up she looked.

"Troy, I heard what you said to Sharpay. It's fine. We're best friends…nothing more. You're older…it would never work. I'm not your type. I don't need to hear anymore."

"No, Brie…that's not it, just lis-," Troy began but was cut off.

"Troy, seriously. Look, give me a couple days, and we'll be fine. We'll be back to being best friends…I'll get over it. Just go away, please," Gabriella cried as she pushed past him and walked into her bathroom, shutting and locking the door.

Gabriella collapsed on the floor, with her back against the door as more tears found their way down her face.

Troy sighed, frustrated with himself, as he took his place on the opposite side of the door, leaning his head back against the door.

"Brie, I need you to hear what I have to say. I don't know what you heard, but I'm guessing you came in on the wrong part of the conversation."

Gabriella sobbed again quietly as his words from earlier came flooding back.

"Sharpay was asking me how I felt about you, and I didn't expect it…"

Gabriella shook her head, not wanting to hear any excuses that would just make her pain worse. She stood up.

Troy's hope grew as he heard her stand up. He stood up expectantly hoping she would open the door and hear him out. His hope left just as quickly though, as he heard the shower turn on. Troy sighed once again, and sat back down against the bathroom door.

Gabriella continued to cry as she sat down next to the shower, hearing the water run, drowning out Troy's voice.

After a few hours of sitting there, Troy got up and began to walk around her room. He had been in there so many times, but never paid much attention. As he looked around the room, he saw many pictures of Gabriella and her friends and family. There was a picture of Gabriella and Mikey on Christmas morning from last year. Then there was one of her and her family that they had taken professionally when she was a freshman. He continued to gaze at the pictures of her and the gang—one of everyone after East High's championship basketball win from the previous year, and one of the gang in Troy's backyard all dressed up for the freshmen-sophomore spring dance. In both pictures, Gabriella and Troy were wrapped up in each other's arms, beaming as they looked at the camera.

Troy walked over to her bed and sat down, picking up the frame on her nightstand. He gently traced his fingers over the picture of him and Gabriella. It was from the junior-senior prom they had just attended a few weeks earlier. Troy smiled as he remembered that night.

--

_Troy wiped his hands on his pants as he knocked on the Montez front door. He had asked Gabriella a month earlier to be his date to prom, both agreeing they were attending as friends. _

_Carlos Montez opened the front door, and smiled at Troy as he shook his hand. _

"_Hi Mr. Montez," Troy greeted. _

"_Troy, I've told you before. Call me Carlos," he said as he amusedly shook his head. _

"_Sorry Carlos. I'm just a little nervous," Troy admitted as he wiped his sweaty hands once again on his pants. _

_Troy stepped inside just in time to see Gabriella begin walking downstairs. She was wearing an almost royal blue, floor length dress. She smiled at Troy who was wearing a black suit, with a royal blue tie that brought out his eyes. _

"_Hey," she greeted. _

"_Hi. You look beautiful," Troy told her as he handed her a single red rose, causing her to blush. _

"_Thanks, Troy. You don't look too bad yourself." Troy grinned before holding out his arm, as she hooked hers through. _

_The two walked out into the family room to take some quick pictures, before heading out to Troy's truck. _

--

Troy smiled remembering how beautiful Gabriella looked that night. He had also had feelings lingering for her for quite some time. Troy just never realized how deep those feelings were. He grinned as he remembered how it felt that night to have her wrapped in his arms, as they danced to the slow music filling the hotel ballroom where their prom was held.

Troy began to grow even more frustrated with himself, realizing he may have screwed up any chances he had to ever be that close to her again.

He stood up and walked back over to the bathroom. He knocked gently on the door and called out her name a few times. After getting no response, he leaned his forehead on the door as tears threatened to fall.

Racking his brain, trying to think of some way to get her to listen, Troy walked over to her desk and took a seat. He smiled at the pictures on her screensaver on her computer—all were pictures of the two of them. Pictures of them as kids, and pictures from recently. Most were of just the two of them—smiling, just being best friends.

Troy pulled out a piece of paper from her desk drawer, and grabbed a pen.

A few hours later, Troy was still sitting there at her desk. He was surrounded by about twenty pieces of balled-up paper, as he furiously wrote his heart down on the piece of paper.

He realized it was now nearing 11:00 at night. Gabriella's parents had come by a few hours earlier. After failing to get Gabriella's attention, Carlos and Anna Montez smiled sympathetically at Troy and decided to leave the two teenagers alone.

Troy read over his note a few more times, finally satisfied with what it contained. He stood up and walked back over towards the bathroom. Sitting down once more, he lightly knocked a few times.

"Brie? Look, I don't know if you can hear me. You probably are exhausted from all your crying, and you are probably asleep on the bathroom floor. I feel terrible for more reasons than one. Again, I don't know if you can hear me, but this is for you. I hope you at least look at it," Troy said as he slid his note under the door.

Gabriella looked towards the door as she saw a piece of paper slide under it. He was right, she had been sleeping, but she woke up when Troy had knocked on the door.

"I have to go. I don't want to, but I'm hoping that once I leave, you'll come out and get some sleep in your bed. Brie, I've said it so many times…but I need you to know that I'm so sorry. I hate that I hurt you, and I know that I can never forgive myself for that. Anyways, the note pretty much says it all. Please read it. Bye." Troy lightly tapped his fingers on the door, as he wiped a few tears from his face, and walked downstairs.

Gabriella heard her door shut, and she wiped away more tears. She stood up and grabbed the note off the floor before walking out of the bathroom and laying on her bed. She smiled at Troy's messiness as she looked at her desk seeing all the papers and pens still laying across its surface.

Gabriella took a deep breath before picking up the letter she had placed on her bed. She gazed at the front, which "Brie" written neatly across it. She carefully unfolded the paper and began to read the many words Troy had written.

_Brie, _

_How do I begin? You should know, I've spent the last three hours trying to write down my thoughts and feelings onto this 8 ½ x 11 piece of paper. _

_First off, I feel that I need to once again say sorry. Look, I had no clue that you were listening to the conversation between me and Sharpay (oh wait, is that supposed to be 'Sharpay and I'? I'm sure you are shaking your head at my lack of grammatical skills). Anyways, when I was talking to Sharpay, I was being stupid. She was asking me how I felt about you, and like a stupid guy…I denied it. I pulled the whole 'she's just my best friend' thing. I don't know what you heard, but I'm sure from your reaction you heard the part where I said that you were younger and I don't love you like that. That's the furthest from the truth. I mean, Sharpay didn't believe a word I was saying, cause as you know…I'm not very good at convincing people of my feelings. My facial expressions usually give it away. _

_Brie, the truth is…I am attracted to you…I do like you in that romantic way. I think you are funny, smart, talented, cute, wonderful, caring, sweet, compassionate, loving, drop-dead gorgeous…beautiful inside and out. I wasn't sure if I was ready to admit this earlier today, but after all of this, I realize that I love you. I love you more than in a brother-sister way. I love you in that deep way—the way that you are always on my mind…that I can't stand to be apart from you…that all I want to do is hold you in my arms and never let go. _

_Look, I don't know if you can ever forgive me. And, I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't. I know you said earlier that you would be fine next week, and we'd go back to being best friends like before. But Brie, I don't want to go back to that. I want to go deeper with you. I want to be able to hold your hand, to kiss you, to hold you in my arms and wipe away all your tears. I want to be able to walk into school for these last few months, holding your hand, and showing the world that I am yours and you are mine. I don't care that you are a year younger than me. That doesn't matter, and that was stupid for me to say that. I would be honored to be your boyfriend. I want to go off to the U of A next year and be able to say that I am completely taken. I want to be able to rush home and hold you in my arms on the weekends, and beat the crap out of any guys who make a pass at you. I want to be there for you through everything—through your senior year, through college, through career choices…forever. I want to be there. And I will be. The question is just what will I be there as. As your best friend? Or as the love of your life? Hopefully the second, but I'm willing to live with the first if that's all you want. _

_I know I hurt you deeply, and I am torn up about that. I am going to wrap this up and head home…I would stay here forever and sleep on your floor waiting for you to come out. But, I love you too much to let you sleep on the bathroom floor waiting for your idiot best friend to leave. So, I'm going to go home. Know though, that I won't be sleeping peacefully…not for awhile. You are always on my heart and mind, and I won't be able to sleep, knowing I broke your heart. _

_Here's to hoping it will mend in time, and I hope I will be a part of that. _

_I love you Brie. _

_-Troy_

Gabriella had been crying even more tears as she read through the letter. She had never expected Troy to say all that to her. She had figured he was there to try to mend their friendship, not to tell her that he felt the same way.

She got up and walked over to her desk, un-crumbling the many pieces of paper sitting there. She smiled, laughed, and cried as she read through the many rough drafts.

Looking over at the clock, Gabriella saw it read almost 2:00 AM. As much as she wanted to run over to Troy's house, she realized it was late and her parents would kill her for running out at this time.

She got into bed, and curled up with her bear; this time, she had a smile on her face

--

Gabriella woke up early on Sunday morning. She rushed out the front door at 8:00 in the morning, and hurried over to Troy's house. She knew he wouldn't be awake for another hour.

Lucille Bolton smiled at Gabriella and ushered her inside. Gabriella smiled gratefully before running up the stairs.

--

Troy began to stir awake. He had a rough night, and didn't fall sleep until about 6:00 AM. He paused in confusion as he felt someone curled up in bed with him. He rubbed his eyes and cracked them open to see Gabriella curled up beside him. Her head was laying on his chest, as their hands were intertwined.

"Hi," he mumbled, slightly confused as to why she was there.

"Hey," she replied sweetly as she snuggled closer, and Troy instinctively wrapped his other arm tightly around her waist.

The two laid there for a few minutes in silence, both absorbed in their thoughts. Gabriella was nervous as to how to put into words that she had forgiven him. Troy was scared that she was there to tell him they could just be friends.

"Troy, we need to talk," Gabriella broke the silence as Troy nodded and rubbed her back gently.

Gabriella propped her chin up on Troy's chest and looked into his eyes, momentarily getting lost in the sea of blue.

"Yeah, listen…I probably shouldn't have left you that letter. That was stupid, and," Troy rambled before Gabriella interrupted.

"I love you too," she said simply, deciding that was the best way to express everything she had wanted to say.

Troy's face erupted into a smile, and Gabriella's followed suit.

Troy separated their intertwined hands, only to reach up and cup Gabriella's face, gently stroking her cheek.

The two continued to have smiles plastered on their faces as Troy closed his eyes and leaned down. Their lips met halfway in a gentle, sweet kiss that both were smiling through.

"I love you so much Brie," Troy confessed as they pulled apart. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you."

"Troy, it's okay. I forgive you," Gabriella said as she laid her head back on his chest, kissing him gently there.

Troy and Gabriella laid there for a few more minutes, enjoying the silence as they cuddled closely together.

"Troy?"

"Hmm?"

"I read your letter. And your twenty rough drafts," Gabriella added with a laugh. "And, I want you to be there too…as my best friend, and more."

Troy smiled. He sat up, and brought Gabriella to sit up as well.

"Brie?" Troy asked with hope glinting in his blue eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Gabriella smiled as she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. She handed it over to Troy, who had a confused look on his face. Troy smiled as he read over one of his many rough drafts from the night before.

_Brie, _

_I love you. Will you be my girlfriend? Of course she won't be your girlfriend you stupid idiot…especially after a crappy note like that. _

Gabriella had written her own response to Troy's ramblings.

_Troy, _

_It's not stupid. And to answer your question…yes._

"So that's a 'yes'?"

"Yes Troy. I would be honored to be your girlfriend," Gabriella said grinning.

Troy smiled before leaning in and capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. The two broke apart and leaned their foreheads together. The happiness they were feeling was evident—both finally content, and ready to embark into a deeper relationship with their best friend. Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella and pulled her closer, promising himself that he would never let her go.


End file.
